Table 2


Selected Major Components of Each of the 20 Critical Subsystems
At Each of the Eight Levels of Living Sysems*
Level/Subsystem Reproducer Boundary Ingestor Distributor Converter Producer Matter-energy
storage		 Extruder Motor Supporter
Cell DNA and RNA
molecules		 Matter-energy and Information
Outer membrane		 Transport molecules Endoplasmic
Reticulum		 Enzyme in
Mitochondrion		 Chloroplast in
green plant		 Adenosine
triphosphate		 Contractile
vacules		 Cilla, flagellae
psuedopodia		 Cytoskeleton
Organ Upwardly
dispersed to
organism		 Matter-energy
and information
capsule or
outer layer		 Input artery Intercellular
fluid		 Parenchymal
cell		 Islets of
Langerhans
of pancreas		 Central
lumen of
glands		 Output
vein		 Smooth muscle,
cardiac muscle		 Stroma
Organism Testes, ovaries
uterus, genitalia		 Matter-energy and
information Skin or
or outer covering		 Mouth, nose, skin
in some species		 Vascular system of
higher animals		 Upper gastrointestinal
tract		 Organs that synthesize
materials for
metabolism and repair		 Fatty tissues Sweat glands of
animal skins		 Skeletal muscle
of higher animals		 Skeleton
Group NASA officer
who selects astronauts for crew		 Matter-energy and
Inspectors of covering of
of spacecraft information
Crew radio operator		 Astronauts who bring
spacecraft		 Crewmember who
distributes food		 dispersed to make
packaged rations		 Crewmembers who repair
damaged equipment		 Crewmember who stows
scientific instruments		 Crew that ejects
satellite into orbit		 Downwardly dispersed to
individual members		 Crewmembers who
maintain spacecraft
Organization Dispersed upward to
society that creates
space agency		 Matter-energy and
Inspectors of contracted
equipment information
NASA guards
who arrest intruders		 Receiving Department
of NASA		 Conveyor belt in
factory that makes
parts for space habitat		 Workers who stamp
out parts for space vehicle		 Doctors who
examine astronauts		 Workers who store
supplies on space vehicle		 Janitors in
NASA buildings		 Driver of
gantry crane		 Janitors in
launch site
buildings
Community Space Agency
that establishes		 Matter-energy and
Dispersed to
builders of habitat
information Operators
of downlink to Earth		 Receivers of materials
from Shuttle		 Food servers
in dinning facility		 Organization that
mines the Moon		 Medical organization in
space community		 Workers who put
supplies into storage areas		 Mine organization
that sends materials to Earth		 Drivers of Moon
surface vehicles		 Maintenance crew
of habitat buildings
Society Constitutional convention
that writes
national constitution		 Matter-energy and
Customs service
information security agency		 Immigration service Operators of
national railroads		 Nuclear industry All farmers and
factory workers of a country		 Soldiers in
Army barracks		 Export organizations
of a country		 Aerospace industry
that builds spacecraft		 Officials who
operate national public
buildings and lands
Supernational system United Nations when
it creates new
supranational agency		 Matter-energy troops
at Berlin Wall
information NATO security personnel		 Legislative body
that admits nations		 Personnel who operate
supranational power grids		 EURATOM
CERN, IAEA		 World Health
Organization		 International storage
dams and reservoirs		 Downwardly dispersed
to societies		 Operators of
United Nations motor pool		 People who
maintain international
headquarters buildings

*Note: The components listed in table 2 are examples selected from many possible structures of each subsystem and at each level. At the organism level, animals are chosen in preference to plants, although many components of plants are comparable. In general, examples are from human rather than animal groups, although similar structures exist in many species. Only human beings form systems above the group. Table 2 places special emphasis on living systems involved in space exploration and habitation. At each level the examples of subsystem components are from different types of systems. This choice makes it clear that the analysis applies to various sorts of systems. At the level of the group and above, components involved in communications rather that monetary flows are used as examples in information processing subsystems. This is done because monetary flows, while obviously important, are found only in human systems and are currently not very significant in space habitations.
Table 2 concluded
Level/Subsystem Input Transducer Internal Transducer Channel and net Timer Decoder Associator Memory Decider Encoder Output Transducer
Cell Receptor sites
on membrane
for activation of
cyclic AMP		 Repressor
molecules		 Pathways of
mRNA, second
messengers		 Fluctuating ATP
and NADP		 Molecular
binding sites		 Unknown Unknown Regulator genes Structure that
synthesizes
hormones		 Presynaptic
membrane
of nueron
Organ Receptor cell of
sense organ		 Specialized cell of sinotrial
mode of heart		 Nerve net of
organ		 Heart pacemaker Second echelon
cell of sense
organ		 None found
upwardly
dispersed to
organism		 None found
upwardly
dispersed to
organism		 Sympathetic
fiber of
sinoatrial node
of heart		 Presynaptic
region of
output nueron		 Presynaptic
region of
output nueron
Organism Sense organs Proprioceptors Hormonal
pathways,
central and
peripheral nerve nets		 Supraoptic
nuclei of
thalamus		 Sensory nuclei Unknown
nueral
components		 Unknown
nueral
components		 Compnents at
several echelons
of nervous
system		 Temporoparietal
area of
dominant
hemisphere of
human cortex		 Larynx, other
components
that output
signals
Group Crewmember
who receives
messages from
ground control		 Crewmember
who reports
crew's reactions
to life in capsule		 Astronauts who
communicate
person to person		 Dispersed to
all members
who hear
time signals		 Member who
explains coded
message		 Dispersed to
all members
who learn
new techniques		 Dispersed to
all crewmembers		 Captain of crew
in capsule		 Members who
write reports
of space
experience		 Members who
report to
Mission Control
Organization NASA secretaries
who take
incoming calls		 Representative
of employees
who reports
to executive		 Users of NASA
internal phone
network		 Office
responsible
for scheduling
flights		 Experts who
explain specs
to contractors		 People who
train new
employees		 Filing
Department		 NASA
executives
department
heads, middle
managers		 Public relations
staff		 Administrator
who makes
policy
television
speech
Community Operators of
downlink to
Earth		 Communicator
over downlink
to Earth		 Psychologists
who report
on morale of
spacefarers		 Caretakers of
clocks in
community		 Users of
communication
system in
space station		 Engineers
who interpret
building
blueprints		 Scientists
who do
research in
space		 Central
computer
of space
community		 Commanding
officer and
staff		 Officer who
writes report
to Earth station
Society Foreign news
services		 Public opinion
polling
organizations,
voters		 Telephone and
communications
organizations		 Legislators
who decide on
time and zone
changes		 Cryptographers All teaching
institutions of a
community		 Keepers of
national
archives		 Voters and
officials of
national
government		 Drafters of
treaties		 National
representatives
to international
meetings
Supranational
system		 UN Assembly
hearing
speaker from
nonmember
territory		 Speaker from
member
country to
supranational
meeting		 INTELSAT Personnel of
Greenwich
observatory		 Translators for
supranational
meetings		 FAO units that
teach farming
methods in Third
World nations		 Librarians of
UN Libraries		 National
representatives
to international
space
conferences		 UN Office of
Public
information		 Official who
announces
decisions of
supranational
body

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